Darkened Hero
"Where is he?" Eric almost shouted in panic to the fox nurse who was setting the bed Sonic had been in only this morning. Rage came in quickly behind him still following him and wondering what was going on. The Fox looked at Eric in fear. "Where did he go?! Where is he!?" Eric was still speaking in a panicked voice.
"H-he went out!" The nurse managed to stutter to Eric. "Left about half an hour ago." The nurse looked like she feared for her life.
"And you didn't inform us?! What were you thinking! He doesn't know where he is!" Eric shouted at the nurse again, tears started forming at her eyes. Rage put his hand on Eric's shoulder.
"Calm down mate it's not her fault." Rage spoke calmly trying to sooth Eric. "What's going on anyway? You still haven't told me!" Eric still looked completely panicked, though at least now he wasn't shouting at the nurse.
"I need to find Sonic." Eric said to Rage hastily. Rage just looked at him with a confused looked. "Now!" Eric shouted. Eric started to rush outside of the room but Rage grabbed his arm.
"Wait, I'll try and locate his Chaos energy signature." Rage said calmly, closing his eyes. Eric started tapping his foot impatiently as Rage continued to look. Rage was searching for over a minute until he opened his eyes. "I can't find him anywhere in the city." Rage looked concerned.
"Shit. Shit. Shit!" Eric said looking at the nurse in a stern way. "Did you tell him?" He spoke questionably and frustrated at the same time. The nurse looked at him petrified.
"I didn't realise I wasn't supposed to?" The Fox said looking away like she was about to be hit as Eric looked at her sternly. "No one told me!" She said defending herself in panic.
"Tell him what? Eric what's going on?" Rage looked at Eric with great suspicion. "Eric just tell me. Now." Eric looked at him. Then sighed in a giving up way.
"You remember I told you that I sometimes can tell when someone's turning point is. The moment they change from evil to good or vice versa?" Rage nodded. "Well a robot army has just attacked the city, we've been fighting them off." Rage looked shocked and opened his mouth to say something. "Before you ask, we don't want the public panicking. Also Tails asked specifically for your group not to be told. This nurse must have overheard part of the conversation Knuckles and Tails had." Rage looked at him slightly shocked. "Well Sonic's time is upon us. His most life changing moment. If we don't find him soon... God knows what will happen!" Eric shouted the last bit in worry as he turned round to head out the door and out the elevator. Rage grabbed his arm.
"There's a faster way down." Rage indicated the window as he approached it. Both the nurse and Eric looked confused.
"I can't survive a fall like that!" Eric stated, shocked. Rage prepared himself to jump out the window.
"I'll catch you." Rage said as he jumped out the window of the building. Eric ran up to the window to see him falling. He shrugged and jumped out himself. Leaving the nurse standing there shocked.
Rage slowed himself down by using his Chaos powers so that Eric swiftly caught up to him. Rage stopped using them as soon as Eric was in his arms bridal style and they soared towards the ground. Just seconds before they landed Rage send out pulses of Chaos energy from his feet, causing him to rapidly slow down but not in such a way that would kill Eric. Rage touched the ground and put down Eric down onto the floor, the floor was cracked slightly from the impact. Eric shook his head to shake off the feeling of falling. He quickly pulled out his mobile phone looking thing. "Have any guards let out a cobalt blue hedgehog walking by himself?" A reply came out almost right away with a familiar voice.
"Aye, I le' one 'ut 'ere on t'e W'ste'n gate." The Scottish accent of a familiar ferret could be heard. "Thou' 'e were back'p"
"Okay, well if he comes near the gates get him in." Eric replied. He looked like he quickly changed frequencies on the phone type thing. "I need a Jeep on the Western end of the city to take me up to the West gate pronto." Eric then quickly placed his phone back in his pocket. "Come on." Eric said to Rage as he began to push through the people again. People moving out the way made it far easier to walk at a fast pace.
They arrived at the edge of the urban part of the city to see a Jeep waiting for them in the sub urban part. Eric quickly ran into it and it started up. Rage who had been took by surprise ran up to the Jeep and jumped on while it was moving. The Jeep was moving very fast considering that it was moving through a well populated area and a quick inspection showed why. The streets had been majorly quarantined in the fact that all the lights were red so that the Jeep could move through fast. They must have been going at round fifty miles per hour. "You must be quite important to be allowed this privilege." Rage said to Eric.
"Well I'm not really that important." Eric waved off. "But I am on top priority because of being your guide." Rage nodded in understanding. As soon as the Jeep made it out of the suburban area and into the rural area it sped up to a good seventy miles per hour. After almost three minutes the Jeep skidded to a halt and Eric jumped out, swiftly followed by Rage. The ferret could be seen running inside of the hut. Suddenly the great big doors of the gate started to open to reveal...
Sonic found himself jogging in a countryside like area. This whole place was a lot to get his head round. Eggman was attacking though and he knew he must stop Eggman at all costs. Especially when so many lives were at stake. While he ran through the main part of the city there were always crowds that never let up. Even in the less urban areas there was a lot of life. It was as if that city was the planet. He knew he had to save it. After running at what was close to a sonic boom inducing speed he slowly came to stop outside a massive gate. He was pretty sure this was the western gate, the place the nurse said it was the thickest. A ferret came up to him hurriedly and asked him if he was the reinforcement they were waiting for in a strong Scottish accent. Sonic just agreed, it'd be easier for him to get through if he didn't have to explain. He could feel the scabbed wound on his stomach tug slightly. Sonic knew he had to be careful with it or he'd risk dying again.
The ferret had disappeared from view leaving Sonic confused but suddenly the gates started opening up and he knew what was going on. Sonic quickly ran through the gates as they started to shut again, having only opened enough for two of his shoulder lengths. He looked round outside and a brutal, desolate scene met him. It was raining heavily and there was a thunderstorm sounding in the background. The ground was coated in red, bodies were strewn across the floor inconsistently and there was pieces of robot laying all over the place. From what Sonic could tell there were more broken robots then dead people. Always a good sign that they were winning. Looking across he could see thousands, maybe even millions of people fighting out scattered across the horizon. Most had at least two robots fighting them at once and one red figure seemed to be fighting about twenty.
Sonic realised that the red figure was a familiar Echidna. Sonic started jogging up to him in order to help out his friend. As he was approaching Knuckles had managed to take out ten of the robots which left nine similar ones and one that looked particularly well built. "Knuckles!" Sonic shouted out to his friend so that he knew he was there. Knuckles faced Sonic when suddenly a gunshot was heard. Even from his distance Sonic could see Knuckles shock as he clasped his stomach. Sonic saw the smoking barrel of the one that attacked Knuckles and screamed out in rage as he headed towards it. He saw Knuckles stumble out of the corner of his eye before taking out eight more of the common robots in a skilled swipe infused with pink Chaos energy. Sonic charged at the well build one with full power and jumped into the air, charging a powerful spin dash in the air he infused his body with a very pale orange Chaos energy and shot himself at the robot piecing it and causing its immediate destruction. Knuckles took out the last robot before collapsing to the ground.
Sonic ran over to his injured friend to see how he was doing. Sonic kneeled down next to the laying Knuckles and got him to move his hand. There was a profusely bleeding hole that looked like it had done damage to an organ, Sonic was fairly certain the bullet had pierced his lung. "Sonic." Knuckles said weakly.
"Hush. Don't speak. Just try and hang on." Sonic whispered in sorrow. Knuckles smiled at Sonic.
"We both know that I'll drown in my own blood before there's any help. I'm glad I got to see you again before I died. I didn't think I would." Knuckles chocked out. The effects of one of his lungs being slowly filled with lungs already acting.
"Come on Knuckles. Don't say that. You'll be fine." Sonic was expressing his worry greatly. Sonic realised he had to accept it. "But I haven't even been able to see you. I wanted to hang out again."
"I know Sonic. I was looking forward to that too. I suppose we'll get to hang out sometime in the afterlife." Knuckles chuckled to himself slightly causing himself to cough. They both knew Knuckles didn't believe in an afterlife.
"Knuckles. You're my best friend. Tails was always like a brother to me but a younger brother. You understood easier because we were almost the same age. I don't want you to die. I don't want you to be gone!" Sonic started breathing heavily, trying to hold back tears. He had to shout his points to get them across and so they we understandable though the deep breaths. Knuckles put the arm that wasn't clutching his chest on Sonic's shoulder
"You know what Sonic? You're my best friend too. You have been ever since you saved my Master Emerald. God this hurts!" Knuckles announced to Sonic. Choking up the occasional bit of blood as he talked. "My vision's starting to go hazy. I don't think I'll be able *Cough* to hold on *cough* for much longer." Knuckles breathing had become laboured and he constantly coughed up little bits of blood. "I don't *cough* want *cough cough* to die Soni..." The breath left Knuckles as his body suddenly relaxed, eyelids drooping slightly and hand falling to the floor.
"Knuckles." Sonic said gently, carefully nudging him as if trying to wake him from a light sleep. The thunder over head crackled. "Knuckles!" Sonic said it with more force this time shaking Knuckles still body slightly more violently, like he was trying to wake a heavy sleeper. "Knuckles?" Sonic said it softly, as if realisation hit him and he was simply trying to deny what had just occurred. Sonic started crying next to his dead friends body. "No Knuckles." Sonic managed to sob out as he looked up to the sky. He placed his hands on his face and pulled them down roughly while he was weeping. He leant his head down, looking down to the floor next to Knuckles, his blood could clearly be seen on the ground. Sonic shallow quick breaths turned to deep quick breaths as he tried to pull himself together. Suddenly he started curling up his hand into a fist, his breathing changing into a low grunting. He continued to cry softly as he grunted in anger. The grunts getting deeper and deeper each time until the crying stopped and all that was left was the anger. Sonic fur slowly started to darken as he thought about Robotnik and revenge. His fur slowly darkened as his voice distorted and he ended up with a pure black pelt for fur.
Sonic looked up at Knuckles and finally opened his eyes. His eyes were completely blank and devoid of emotion. Sonic placed his left hand on Knuckles right shoulder. "I shall avenge you." Sonic said in a voice that didn't seem his. It was tinted with evil. The thunder crackled again as Sonic suddenly heard metallic movement behind him.
"Sonic the Hedgehog confirmed. Initiating anti Sonic manoeuvres." A metallic voice was heard behind him. Sonic counted three of them. They started shooting at him, the bullets just bouncing off his dark Chaos infused skin and fur. Sonic chuckled evilly. Suddenly a soft 'thock' was heard. Sonic looked down at Knuckles unmoving body and saw a fresh bullet wound in his gut. Sonic growled loudly and spun round. He instantly located all three of the robots at were firing and shot across faster than ever. Tearing his hand through the chest of the robot and destroying the reinforced steel robot like it was made of tissue paper. His eye quickly flicked to the left as the two remaining robots attempted to locate him. He soared straight towards the robot that was in his vision and ripped though the stomach of the robot with his outstretched arm, tearing it in two. He looked up at the last robot, the one who had initially spoken as it looked at him. "Error. This is not Sonic nor Shadow. Unknown hedgehog." The robot read out. Sonic laughed at it.
"Glad we got that I'm not Sonic out of the way." Sonic said evilly. He shot across at the robot and completely obliterated it with ease. Clapping his hands to wipe off the dust as he smirked. "Eggtard just gets worse and worse at building these things." He kicked one of the pieces of robot really hard. Sending it flying into the distance and making it shoot through a long line of rather butch looking robots. This caused them all to explode from the inside. Sonic licked his lips in a crazy sort of way, staring at the destruction he just caused while the line of Echidnas that were fighting them all stuck their thumbs up in thanks before moving on to a different robot. Sonic crouched down into running position and sprinted towards a large cluster of robots that were surrounded by a ring of Mobians. He jumped right into the middle of the cluster and most of them turned to him.
"Sonic the Hedgehog confirmed..." Sonic let off a small Chaos Blast, destroying all of the robots in the immediate vicinity and leaving just a single ring of robots on the outer edge where the Mobians were. Sonic quickly ran round the inner circle and completely trashed every single one that was in that ring.
"Sonic my arse." Sonic said as he stopped to admire his handwork. Most of the Mobians shouted their thanks as they ran off to find more targets to destroy. Some were simply too shocked to do anything. Sonic looked up at one of the younger Mobians that was just standing there staring at him. "What you looking at?" Sonic said harshly to the young Wolf. All of the Mobians still near him scattered and went to find other targets. Sonic smirked evilly again. He looked round to see plenty more robots that needed 'fixing' Sonic cracked his knuckles. "This is going to be fun." He announced as he flexed his now cracked fingers. Sonic ran past many robots at high speed obliterating each and every one of them as he passed. Looking back he saw a long line of at least a few hundred fall down and the hundred or so Mobians look round in confusion as the robots fell to the ground. Each of them actively fighting at least two robots. Sonic chuckled slightly before continuing on his mad way.
As Sonic was running towards what looked like a large group of robots he noticed some sort of flying machine above him that was obviously filled with a massive amount of robots. Judging from the size of the flying thing and comparing it to the size of the robot it looked like it could store about five thousand robots in, and that was without considering that it looked like it could have as many as five layers. Sonic quickly ran close to the distant machine that was slowly lowering itself. Sonic started charging a yellow bolt in his hand. "Chaos." He held the word as the brightness of the bolt increased. "Grenade!" He shouted shooting the bolt of Chaos energy at the ship. It looked just like a Chaos Spear but then it connected. It cause a mighty explosion that completely vaporised the machine. He looked up as a few remaining pieces of metal flew to the ground. He heard someone approaching and turned to see a young male brown Echidna coming near.
"Hey!" The Echidna called over to Sonic as he approached. "We've managed to take out pretty much all of the smaller ones now. You just destroyed the last wave of them so there aren't many left. We're more concerned with some of the larger ones down the southern gate. Although the main force hit here it seems that a very large robot was sent down there. This robot is single handedly taking out most of the defence down there." Sonic looked blankly at the Echidna kid. He didn't seem like a bad kid but Sonic didn't like being told what to do. Sonic decided he may as well agree. It'd be fun to take out the most powerful thing that Robotnik sent. However, before that. Sonic looked up at the Echidna kid and stuck his thumb up. Then in the blink of an eye ran round in a spiral ending up in the middle of where he was previously standing and the wall. Every robot within a mile of him fell to pieces as a sonic boom was heard in for a great distance. Sonic smirked and started running in a zigzag while following the wall and going towards the southern entrance, destroying every robot in his path.
Sonic arrived at the south gate, he quickly looked round and couldn't see anything out of the ordinary except a bunch of Mobians all bunched together and a load of dead bodies strewn across that floor, staining the ground in red. There were small pieces of metal littered in random places. Sonic wondered if they had maybe defeated this big bad robot. Then suddenly he heard a loud noise coming from above him. Looking up he saw a robot that looked really quite familiar. A golden robot adorning a spear in its right hand and a shield in its left could be seen. It's chest no longer had a glowing portion though. Meaning its main weakness had disappeared. The Egg Emperor seemed to have spotted him as it stopped circling round the group of Mobians and headed for him. Sonic stood there and smirked at it. The robot was obviously remotely controlled, there was no place for a cockpit in sight. "Looks like Eggtard is losing his imagination!" Sonic announced to the robot in a cocky manner. Suddenly a voice crackled through on what Sonic could only assume was a long range intercom.
"Sonic? Is that you?" Robotnik could be heard speaking through the robot. The robot lowered it spear but kept its strong shield propped up to defend against any surprise attacks.
"I suppose. That's what I've been called for so long now. The name came to me in my sleep, I was called something else by my adoptive parents. I believe Sonic is the name my birth mother gave me." Sonic said to Robotnik. Sonic stepped forwards, causing the robot to raise his spear.
"What happened to you? Why are you in that form?" Robotnik questioned. The robot still held up its spear and shield.
"You happened."
Sonic fling himself through the robot, tearing directly through the shield and through the interior body. Sonic crouched down on the other side of the robot as it exploded in multiple places. Sonic stood up and smiled to himself evilly. It looked like he had 'fixed' all of the robots nearby. Sonic decided that he best get back to Knuckles body if he wanted to protect it and get him a proper sending off. Sonic clenched both fists and yelled into the air letting off a thin sheen of black energy from his body. It floated upwards and slow dissipated in the air. Suddenly the rain started slowing down, coming to a slow and gradual stop before the clouds started parting about Sonic and a small patch of sky could be seen. The patch gradually grew until the patch of sky was visible for almost one hundred kilometres in every direction. Sonic looked up and smiled at his handy work. It was a true smile. Though he didn't get how he did made the sky like that, he just knew he did. Sonic looked down. His fur was still the same back colour but his eyes were green, only slightly darker than his usual eye colour.
Sonic ran back to Knuckles body to find it undisturbed from the last time he saw it. He kneeled down next to his close friend and closed each of his eyes. "Goodbye Knuckles." Sonic muttered as he stood back up Knuckles in his arms as he carried Knuckles bridal style. Suddenly a loud roaring sound could be heard. Sonic whipped round to see if any robots were left standing but was instead greeted by a large crowd of Mobians of all shapes and sizes all cheering for him. They all looked pleased and terrified at the same time. Sonic couldn't work out whether they were scared of him or they were simply horrified their leader was dead. A familiar brown male Echidna pushed his way through the crowd and made it to Sonic after punching another Echidna out of the way.
"We're all thankful for your help! Without you a lot more lives would have been lost. What is your name black hedgehog?" The Echidna asked him formally. He looked at Knuckles and looked upset despite all of the good that had just gone on. Sonic decided he would talk to him, only because the Echidna was showing caring towards Sonic's deceased best friend.
"The name's Sonic. Dark Sonic."
Amy was stood in a small ring with Shadow. The room was sealed off to the rest of the establishment yet noises could still be heard coming from the other area. Jeering and shouting could be heard muffled in the next room. Only the occasional word was decipherable to Amy and most of them were words like 'kill', 'destroy', 'smash' and 'obliterate'. It didn't really strike much confidence in Amy as Shadow swung a punch at her, connecting with her shoulder. "Damn it Rose. Concentrate! I don't want to hurt you but you bring it on yourself when you daydream!" Shadow shouted at her. Amy snapped out of her trance as Shadow threw another punch at her, this one intended for her face. Amy swiftly moved her right arm to parry the punch and used the momentum of the dodge to throw her own left hook at Shadow's stomach. Shadow jumped back to avoid the hit, doing a back flip with a kick that barely missed Amy as she moved her head back just in time. "You're a fast learner Rose, we've only been at this for an hour and you're already getting the hang of it." Shadow said as Amy stood looking at him. Panting.
"Yeah?" Amy managed to force out while trying to catch her breath. Shadow nodded at her with a small smirk. Amy smiled at him in glee. "That's great news. I thought I wasn't progressing at all! All of the punches and kicks were coming at the same speed as when we first started and I barely managed to dodge them at all during the entire thing!" Amy looked slightly disappointed with herself and hung her head down. Shadow walked up to her and propped her head back up with his hand so that her eyes were looking into his.
"I was just using more of my strength as time went on. As you progressed I upped my game." Shadow said to her kindly. Amy blushed slightly as she looked into his eyes. Amy turned away. She looked as if she was about to say something when a rather butch looking Echidna walked in.
"Your hour is up. Time to pack up and leave." The Echidna pointed over his shoulder as he said it. He then stood at the door waiting for the two to leave. Shadow immediately hopped over the metal bars that went round the ring. Amy swiftly followed and got out a little less gracefully. They both passed the Echidna and three others immediately after who looked like they were most likely next up in the room. They got out into the packed main room. The room was probably about a square kilometre in size and contained within it about nine fifty meter square rings. Each with its own betting hut and rules. Amy expected Shadow to head straight for the entrance but he instead walked over to one of the rings, luckily as crowded as the room was, he walked down a small gap in the middle of the crowds that were all bunched round the rings. All of them were screaming different things as people in the rings beat each other up. Each of the rings seemed quite brutal to Amy who hadn't had much experience with this sort of thing. Shadow seemed to look at home. Amy looked up to where they were headed. It seemed like they were off to the cage match area.
"Where are we going Shadow?" Amy finally spoke up after much doubt about what was going on. Surely he wasn't going to enter her into a match?! Amy got a worried look on her face. Shadow detected the worry in her voice.
"We're heading towards the cage match arena. The rules at that particular arena state anyone can enter to fight the winner of the previous match who stays in until he is defeated or withdraws. The bets are based on who wins the match and a knock out or give up are the only ways to lose. Killing is forbidden but it isn't unknown despite that. Now before you start worrying Rose I am not entering you. Learning from watching can be a helpful tool as well. Besides, I want to test out how much I've developed while inside of the cell. That pitiful robot I faced was too weak. Or inexperienced. I couldn't work out which." Amy looked up at Shadow. She admired him for his strength and abilities. If she was honest Shadow had always been stronger than Sonic she just refused to believe it. He was simply deeper in touch with Chaos than her blue hero. They reached the cage arena and Shadow walked up to the betting area. The human sitting at the desk was talking over the intercom for that ring.
"Will no one dare challenge our winner of seven matches, the indestructible. Ted!" Shadow sniggered slightly at the name and the human sitting behind the desk looked at him. "It seems we have a challenger!" He waved his hand to bring Shadow over. Shadow walked over slowly. The human spoke to Shadow with the intercom turned off. "You got a name?" Shadow said his name to the guy as the crowd started shouting about there being another match. "The phantom Shadow enters the ring!" The guy shouted over the intercom. Shadow rolled his eyes at the guy for making his name seem 'dramatic' before jumping into the ring. "We'll start the match in five minutes while we take your bets." A countdown appeared above the ring, as the cage side we lowered down, the countdown slowly dropping from the number five. Amy quickly walked up to the man before the hordes of Mobians attempted to farm an orderly queue.
"Five hundred rings on the black hedgehog." Amy said pushing her rings to the man behind the counter. The man looked at her funny.
"Ted is an Echidna, they are renown for being incredibly strong and good in fights. I don't want to steal like that off a pretty face." The guy behind the counter said. Amy just looked at him sternly.
"I want to place my money on the black hedgehog." Amy stubbornly said. The guy behind the counter shrugged and took her money, handing her a slip.
"The bet is 200:1 against the hedgehog winning. If he wins you get 100000 rings back. Good luck!" The human behind the counter said. A large messy queue of about two hundred had formed behind Amy and without delay the human behind the counter stated moving through the bets quickly. Amy quickly moved to the side of the ring with Shadow on.
"Hey Shadow!" Amy shouted at him amongst the noise. Shadow's delicate ears picked up on the sound of her voice and he turned round. "You best win! I've bet all my money on you!" Amy shouted at him. Shadow rolled his eyes at her. Amy smiled to herself as Shadow turned back round. She had no doubt he'd win.
"Okay times up for betting! Two people have bet on the phantom Shadow and two hundred and thirteen have bet on the indestructible Ted." The guy on the intercom with quiet for a moment while everyone except two of the crowd laughed at Shadow's expense. "Let the round, begin!" A loud noise much like a bell was heard as he said the word begin. The Echidna on the stage threw a mighty punch at Shadow for Shadow to catch it perfectly barely moving. Shadow quickly unleashed his own punch onto the unwitting Echidna's head as he let go of the fist. The Echidna stumbled back and tripped over his own feet, bringing him down to the floor. Everyone in the crowd surrounding the cage was surprisingly quiet. The Echidna quickly got back to his feet and had an embarrassed look on his face.
"Lucky shot!" He shouted. The crowd started shouting and cheering again, shouting abuse at Shadow. Shadow just rolled his eyes as the Echidna came at him again. A heavy hard punch that was most likely his strongest lugged at Shadow. Shadow swiftly dodged the speeding fist with ease. The Echidna managed to barely read his movements as he swung a second punch at Shadow. This one more accurate as Shadow was quite close. Shadow parried it off and swung in another hit of his own, landing a neat hit into the Echidna's gut. The Echidna stumbled again and fell flat on his back. He curled up as he coughed from his windedness. Shadow stood looking at him with his arms crossed. It was obvious that Shadow was going easy. Yet Amy could see that he was using far more strength than when he was sparing with her. The crowd roared at the Echidna to get up. Most of them having bets on him. Some people were cheering on Shadow. Amy assumed these people were either part of a group bet on Shadow or people who just didn't bet.
"I haven't got all day." Shadow said in a serious attitude. The Echidna slowly stood up while glaring at Shadow. Shadow stood there looking at him with his usual look. The Echidna threw a sluggish punch at Shadow, slow from the damage to his stomach. Shadow dodged to the left and grabbed the Echidna's arm with his left arm, pulling him forwards and making him stumble. As the Echidna passed Shadow's body Shadow placed a well aimed elbow into the back of the Echidna's neck. The Echidna fell like a sack of potatoes. The crowd roared in protest.
"Seems the phantom Shadow has won by knock out! This was unexpected!" Amy went up to the clerk and handed him the slip. "That was an awfully impressive match. I've only seen about ten contenders beat Ted like that." The man handed the money over to Amy. "Friend of yours?" The human asked as he handed the 100000 rings to Amy in 10000 notes.
"Sort of. He's my sensei." The human behind the desk looked impressed. Ted had walked off the stage after being drenched in water. He walk off low and miserable. Shadow stayed on the top and waited. A male yellow Armadillo walked into the ring and cracked his knuckles at Shadow.
"Ah! Regular mighty Mike. Returns to the stage! Mike is well known in the stage as you all full well know. His longest undefeated streak being thirteen! One of the highest here." The human announced loudly over the microphone. "I'll take everyone's bets; five minutes again. Be sure to check in your betting slips if you won something before leaving. Remember that they are valid for only 24 hours after the match concludes!"
"I'll bet on the black hedgehog again." Amy said pushing her winnings to the human once again. The human looked slightly confused before taking the money.
"You must be very confident in this sensei of yours. His win is being put down as a fluke. Though now the stakes are just 10:1 for him to win So your return will be one million." The human said in a matter of fact voice. Amy smiled at the clerk before walking off to stand behind where Shadow was waiting. Shadow looked at her.
"You best win this one too." Amy said joking. Shadow smirked at her before turning back to his opponent. The Armadillo was eyeing Shadow up. Trying to work out what he was made of and his fighting techniques. Amy was completely confident in Shadow ability to fight. She didn't doubt him one bit. Amy stood in a day dream about how strong Shadow was until suddenly the bell sounded to start the match. Amy quickly looked up as not to miss anything but both of them were just standing there, waiting for the other to make the first move. Shadow inched forward with his feet, scuffing the ground. The Armadillo followed suit. Suddenly the Armadillo jumped at Shadow, sending a punch flying towards his gut. Shadow tried to block it and almost fumbled it. Luckily he had his left hand further back to block anything that got passed his right. Shadow got a quick right jab in on the Armadillo who winced slightly but wasn't overly bothered by the hit. The Armadillo took a swipe at Shadow head causing Shadow to duck and forcing him to let go of the Armadillo's hand. The Armadillo swiftly jumped back.
The crowd roared like crazy. This time there was a few more people cheering on Shadow but most were still for the opposition. Shadow took up a defensive stance and looked like he was concentrating. He could be seen inhaling then exhaling deeply. He closed his eyes. The Armadillo suddenly jumped at Shadow while he had his eyes closed and swung a punch at him with incredible strength, the whole of his body behind it. Shadow stayed completely still until the punch was mere centimetres away from his face. Then he suddenly dodged and swung his arm into the Armadillo's stomach using the momentum of the Armadillo's own attack against him. The Armadillo went flying into the metal bars on the other side and slumped to the floor, already unconscious before he hit the floor. Most of the crowd went silent only one person was cheering Shadow in the background. Amy smirked at Shadow as he started rubbing his head in an embarrassed way. "Oops." Said muttered still rubbing his head. "I think I hit him too hard." Shadow stopped rubbing his head and just shrugged. All of the Shadow supporters roared with passion.
"And unbelievably that is another win for the phantom Shadow! Is he the next Terra Williams? Come, take your winnings while someone braves going up against our new fighter!" The announcer shouted. Amy couldn't help but wonder who Terra Williams was and why he called her by her proper name rather than some fancy thing he came up with. Amy got in the queue of people who were collecting winnings, there were about ten people.
When Amy's turn came she decided to ask about the person he mentioned earlier. She handed her slip to the human and breathed in. "So who's Terra Williams?" Amy asked politely.
"You don't know who she is?! She's only the strongest underground fighter we've ever had! Never been defeated! Even after her longest streak of fifty she only quit because she was bored, not tired!" He carried on talking as a light brown female Echidna walked onto the stage. Amy watched in awe at her; she didn't seem like your average Mobian. The clerk handed Amy the money and finally looked round to see who had gone onto the stage. He quickly turned back with a look of pure surprise on his face as he spoke. "Terra! What you doing here?" The brown female Echidna looked round to where the booth was.
"Heard my name so I thought I'd join in." Terra said cheekily winking at the clerk. Amy looked up at the Echidna, then looked to Shadow. Shadow was shaking his head at her. Amy guessed what he meant by it.
"Are you betting again?" The clerk said to Amy. Amy shook her head slowly. "Ah too bad, but probably wise." The human said before Amy moved aside to allow a queue to form. The human spoke over the intercom as Amy moved away "Five minutes for bets everyone." Amy walked up to Shadow. As Shadow watched her approach she gave him a questioning look. He took in a deep breath before answering Amy's unasked question.
"This'll be the fight where I get tested. I'd rather you not bet on me when there's even the slightest chance of loss. She's stronger than me, though I doubt she's faster, I have an edge." Shadow said looking at Amy. "She's actually quite a fine specimen of a fighter. She may be stronger in Chaos than me." Amy looked at Shadow in surprise. Inside she was jealous that Shadow was speaking of his next opponent that way. Amy wasn't sure why though. She thought it was probably because of the fact she was his disciple and she wanted the praise. Amy stuffed the money into her front pocket
The bell sounded and the crowd fell silent, only people from the other rings could be heard in the distance but the crowd was swiftly growing. Shadow and Terra quickly moved into defensive positions. Terra waved her hand in a bring it on way as she smiled at Shadow. Shadow simply smirked at this and said "Ladies first!" Terra smirked back and suddenly jumped for him. She moved like a bolt and if Amy wasn't used to seeing Sonic move at this pace she would have missed it. Shadow swiftly dodged to bring a punch round into Terra's side. Terra quickly spun round and used the momentum of her spin to parry Shadow's blow. Both parties jumped back and moved into a defensive position again. "You're pretty good." Shadow announced to her. Terra smirked.
"You're not bad yourself." Terra replied. Shadow smirked back. Shadow made the first move this time and threw a right punch at Terra which almost connected with her temple but Terra jumped into a low back flip and unleashed a powerful kick towards Shadow. Shadow knew he had no time to dodge so he quickly moved his left hand down to block it. The kick collided with Shadow and his arm gave way, Terra's foot hit his face and sent him flying backwards in a flipping motion. Shadow gathered his bearings in mid air and landed in a crouch to find that Terra was already bearing down on him with a punch to the head. Shadow tried to dodge and simply got grazed on the cheek and ear. He swiftly tried to move into a position to hit her but Terra had already started bringing her knee up for a hit in the gut. Shadow noticed it too late and doubled over from being winded. Terra quickly put herself into a heavy uppercut and punch Shadow in the face as he bent from being winded. This knocked him up again and made him face her as she brought her other hand to smack him in the face with her palm. Shadow stumbled backwards with a slightly bleeding nose. Terra quickly ran at him to get another hit in but Shadow recovered from the barrage quickly and jumped right over her head, momentarily confusing her.
"I think I'll change that to very good." Shadow said to her as she looked at him and smiled. "But playtime's over. Time to step it up." Terra stood there, amused at Shadow's words. Shadow grabbed his wrist and twisted one of his resistors off. He moved onto the other one as Terra stood there smiling at him and waiting for him to finish. "Rose catch!" Shadow threw the rings at Amy who caught them perfectly. Amy smiled at him before he turned round to face his opponent once more. Terra waited casually as Shadow prepared himself to fight her. Concentrating on bringing his energy out. The moment Shadow was distracted with his focusing Terra dived at Shadow with a left hook. Shadow quickly dodged and threw a punch to her stomach. Terra quickly defended with her left arm which almost gave way. She quickly jumped back.
"Those weren't ordinary rings were they?" Terra said to Shadow as she observed him. Shadow just grinned at her and jumped towards her himself now throwing a right hook. Terra quickly moved into a defensive position and pushed Shadow's incoming fist to the right with her right arm, then using Shadow momentum against him she hit him in the face with her palm again. Causing him to stumble again. Terra ran up to him again and started to throw a punch but Shadow ducked to dodge and put a heavy punch into her gut, causing her to cough. Terra continued to attack despite being hit in the gut and swung her knee up towards Shadow, Shadow moved his leg up swiftly to block Terra's attack. As Shadow stood up to block the attack from underneath Terra attacked from above and sung her fist right into Shadow's face. Once again he stumbled. Terra put a massive amount of strength into a kick that went into Shadow's side sending him into the side of the ring. Terra quickly chased him to the side of the ring and pinned him against it with her side, punching Shadow in the gut repeatedly. After about a minute of this Shadow managed to push her off, breathing heavily. He looked up at Terra darkly, who simply smiled at him. Shadow started to calm his breathing through concentration as Terra jumped at him with her left fist once again. Shadow caught it and didn't budge.
"I shall not lose in front of Rose." A slight yellow aura suddenly surrounded him as his quills started to pick up and spike upwards. Suddenly his black fur changed to a lemony cream colour. Shadow let go of Terra's hand and looked at his arms. "Well that's new."